CFCC wants you to take your butts elsewhere

There will soon be fewer "butts" outside Cape Fear Community College. That is because the Board of Trustees approved the campus to go tobacco-free starting August 1st.
School administrators are concerned about the health and safety of the students, employees and visitors, not to mention the amount of trash that accumulates on the sidewalks. However, the announcement is not sitting well with smokers.
"I feel like it's a violation of my civil rights, I mean where did my rights go that I can't sit on the sidewalk and smoke? Now I need to stand in the street?" asked Hannah Royal.
There is some hope for Hannah. The sidewalk is owned by the city, which means all smokers have to do is step across the line, and they can smoke freely.

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tg2104
Some people are always talking about thier rights as non-smokers not to have to breath in smoke from other people and smokers should stay at home to smoke. What about the smokers rights? Smokers have just as much right to be out in public smoking as you have being out in public and not smoking. If all smokers rights are taken away, soon your rights as a non-smoker will start disappearing also.It is discriminationagainst smokers. I am a smoker and I have alot of friends who do not smoke. I respect the fact that they dont smoke and I only smoke on my porch so they can come in my house and not have to breath in smoke, but it is people who think they are better than most because they dont smoke make me angry. I bet most non-smokers drink alot of wine, beer,etc. At least I wont get in my car and kill someone because I was over the limit. And for the person who hates being at the beach and being downwind of a smoker, MOVE!!!!! Public beach???

NO YOU MOVE!!!!! I have worked at a golf course for 8 years, and have had to deal with smoke being blown in my face, as result of that , I have developed heart problems, as well as breathing problems. I do not drink at all or do drugs, and don't go out and party either. But when I come home to my husband and children at 4or5pm, I SMELL LIKE A SMOKE STACK, so why is it so hard for people to step out, take a puff then come back into place of business. I can't go outside to work. Just to let you know where I work is not a bar it is a grill at a golf course.

Smoke is the additive to the environment, and therefore is what should be regulated. And why should a non-smoker be the one to move if they were there first? Drinking and driving is stupid, too, and totally irrelevant to the topic of smoking. Smoking is a habit with absolutely NO redeeming qualities- it smells bad, is unhealthy, creates pollution, and is a waste of money.

I wish NC would ban smoking in all public places. That way I can breathe clear air and smokers can stink up their own homes and cars or go to cigar bars if they want to smoke. It totally ruins a nice day at the beach if you are downwind from a smoker!

Our fathers and grandfathers went to war with a Lucky Strike hanging out of their mouth, and we not only whipped our enemies on two fronts, we whipped a depression that had tortured the country for a decade.
In the post-war years we reached the pinnacle of our economic and military power even though every magazine we read had a full-color glossy of the Marlboro Man.
We put a man on the moon thanks to engineers at NASA who usually had a pack of Winstons in their pocket and an ashtray on their desk.
Now, take one brief look at the state of this nation today.....then tell me how cigarettes and smokers are our biggest concerns. Explain how even smelling a cigarette is the worse thing you have to face every day.
After smoking one to two packs a day for twenty-seven years, I quit twelve years ago and I'm happy that I did.
I'm even happier that I never became a totally obsessed, oppressive bully who equates smoking with nose-picking or public masturbation, and then dedicated my life to saving the world from cigarettes.

What I really cannot stand are all the "butts" that are thrown everywhere. I've seen people sitting on benchs with a trash can on the opposite side where they are sitting and they are too lazy to get up and walk over to throw their "butts" away. Just look at every intersection....you see cig butts all over the police.
What I really wish would happen is for LEO to strickly enforce the littering laws and fine those that throw their cig butts on the ground the $100 civil penalty

I too have seen people too lazy to get up and throw away trash......in Parks..in parking lots of fast food restaurants....along side the highways.....in residential areas...Now I am not just talking about cig butts...I am talking about anything from dirty diapers to empty beer cans....and all you can do is complain about cig butts. You need to get a life.

This is just a big deal out of nothing. They just need to do what they have done here at UNCW...no smoking within 25 feet of entrances. It's working out pretty well here. A few students still smoke on steps...which is disrepectful. I am a smoker and can understand that some others do not want to breathe the smoke I exhale. But most of us walk away from entrance in respect for others since the 25 ft smoke free thing started last summer.

...and am still smoke free. It was my choice, my right and the very best thing I've ever done for myself. But, you know what? I don't see or hear ANY of you non-smokers complaining about going into bars while trying to "hook up" or get drunk with the cig smoke hanging 3 feet below the ceiling or about the other hundreds of smokers on the sidewalk when the bars close.
You posters here are just a bunch of whiners complaining about your "rights" to smell or not smell certain things. There's plenty of air out there for all of us to enjoy. If you're so close that you're choking on someone's smoke in an outside area, then your're likely guaranteed to inhale a few pounds of flatulant gas along the same route. Want "laws and rights" for that too, or can I just serve you some cheese to go with that whine as I play my tiny little violin????
Geeeeeeeeezzzzzz........I shake my head.

Can you please show me the scientific data that proves breathing in someone else's fart can cause cancer in the person doing the breathing?
Yes, our sense of smell is important, but not essential. There are plenty of people who for various reasons have lost their ability to detect smell. However, smelling is NOT the primary purpose of the nose and respiratory system. The primary function is BREATHING. Without the sense of smell, life can get boring, I'd imagine. But without breathing, WE DIE. So yeah, I tend to take it personal when someone else thinks their addiction to smoking is more important than my ability to breathe. Breathing in cigarette smoke second-hand is NOT the same thing as smelling a rose. Indeed, your attempt to equate BREATHING with smelling farts is simply ludicrous.
Yeah, there's lots of air. Brilliant observation, Captain Obvious. What you failed to see, though, is that simply going outside is not enough. Ever attended an outdoor concert? I should not be expected to get up and leave simply because some smoker is weaker than a lil' ol' cigarette. Know what else? When I'm in my car at a red light, even with the windows all the way up, I can smell someone else's smoke inside my car. And before you go get your little panties in an even bigger knot, let me just state that NO, I do NOT think smokers should not be allowed to smoke in their own cars. My point is that cigarette smoke goes far beyond the little tiny bubble you seem to think it does.
Geez...I shake MY head because you seem to think that breathing second-hand smoke and smelling something are the same. They're as different as night and day.
Cheese...whine...violin...good ones. Boy, you really found something there that no one has ever said before. Way to be creative.

Guest O'Lean......I do not go into establishments that allow smoking. I like breathing. Breathing is good. Everyone has a choice to smoke or not to smoke...but remember....someone else's rights END where MINE begin. I have to RIGHT to be able to breathe clean air. Let the smokers smoke in a glassed in area with no ventilation. Let them die of their own toxins. Smokers smell nasty anyway.

From the story "The sidewalk is owned by the city, which means all smokers have to do is step across the line, and they can smoke freely."
Remove all ashtrays and butt holders and then ticket those "smart" students that stand on the sidewalk to smoke and then throw their butts down.

What about the rights of non-smokers? Why should we have to smell your smoke? We shouldn't!!!! Why should we have to walk through your second hand smoke which has been found to be worse that if we put a cigarette to our own mouth. We should not have to smell that? Not only that, why should we have to have that smell on our clothes and in our hair when there are so many of us that don't smoke? I think this is great that they will take the stand and do this. Way to go CFCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and while we are at it lets ban all the offensive cologne, perfume, and after shave, and let's not forget the offensive body odor that can be generated by a 19-20 yr old kid on a hot & humid afternoon. While we're at it the diesel exhaust from these buses that pick-up and drop off these students needs to go also, etc, etc, etc......and the list can go on and on and on. let's remember that making new rules does not help enforce the ones already in existence

Well, Ms Hannah, you most certainly have the right to make your lungs black, shriveled and worthless, but you have forgotten the most important right of being an American citizen....one that YOUR rights END where MINE start!! I only have one pair of lungs and want to keep them from becoming dysfunctional due to having to inhale YOUR smoke from your NASTY cigarette! CFCC sent out a survey for students to fill out concerning which areas to make smoke free. You would think that they would make the entrances of the Allied Health Building one of those areas, afterall, nursing students and other medical students must walk through the cigarette smoke to get to classes and you would think that school officials would want to keep future healthcare providers healthy so we can take care of people like Hannah who might end up with COPD later in life...but no, smoking is still permitted at the entrances to the Allied Health Building for now.....so all I can do is hold my breath as I walk through the smoke from the cigarettes of the faculty and students who have no respect for those of us who do not smoke and want to be able to breathe without difficulty later in life. I suggest they build smoke cages of glass with no ventilation and have the smokers go inside to smoke so they can inhale more toxins from their cigs. Sound cruel? Perhaps, but they would be only killing themselves and not other innocent people who do not smoke. My lungs. My Rights.

Let me just make sure I understand what I believe are the points you tried to make.
First, Socialism? Protecting the wellbeing of this nation's citizens is Socialism? Wow, new one.
Second point ties into the first: This is just the beginning of what we can and can't do? Seriously?? Where the heck do you live that there are NO laws of any kind? See, where I'm from, governments have enacted laws designed to keep all citizens safe. I kinda like that it is illegal to murder someone. If this is the first law that you see that tells us what we can and can't do, then I think you live in a very scary place indeed.